Jean-Michel Basquiat Quotations

I am not a black artist, I am an artist.

I wanted to be a star, not a gallery mascot.

I thought I was going to be a bum the rest of my life.

Since I was seventeen I thought I might be a star. I'd think about all my heroes, Charlie Parker, Jimi Hendrix... I had a romantic feeling about how these people became famous.

The more I paint the more I like everything.

I start a picture and I finish it.

The black person is the protagonist in most of my paintings. I realized that I didn't see many paintings with black people in them.

I wanted to build up a name for myself.

I don't think about art when I'm working. I try to think about life.

I don't listen to what art critics say. I don't know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.

I like kids' work more than work by real artists any day.

Occasionally, when I get mad at a woman, I'll do some great, awful painting about her.

I had some money, I made the best paintings ever. I was completely reclusive, worked a lot, took a lot of drugs. I was awful to people.

I was a really lousy artist as a kid. Too abstract expressionist; or I'd draw a big ram's head, really messy. I'd never win painting contests. I remember losing to a guy who did a perfect Spiderman.

The country makes me more paranoid, you know? I think the crazy people out there are little crazier.

I have a painting where somebody's holding a chicken, and underneath the chicken is somebody's head.

My favorite Twombly is 'Apollo and the Artist,' with the big 'Apollo' written across it.

Believe it or not, I can actually draw.

There are about 30 words around you all the time, like 'thread' or 'exit.'

I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was young.

If I'm away from painting for a week, I get bored.

I don't think about art when I'm working. I think about life.

SAMO as an end to to mindwash religion, nowhere politics and bogus philosophy.

Every single line means something.

Most Young Kings Get Their Heads Cut Off.

Fire will attract more attention than any other cry for help.

I cross out words so you will see them more

If you wanna talk about influence, man, then you've got to realize that influence is not influence. It's simply someone's idea going through my new mind.

I start a picture and I finish it. I don't think about art while I work. I try to think about life.

I cross out words so you will see them more; the fact that they are obscured makes you want to read them.